Thursday December 16 12:21 PM ET 

 US Utilities 100 Percent Ready for Y2K Bug

 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans can go to bed on New Year's Eve
 confident that the millennium bug won't disrupt their electric lights and power,
 the Clinton Administration said on Thursday.

 Energy Secretary Bill Richardson declared that the nation's electricity utilities
 were 100 percent ready for possible Y2K computer problems, and had
 contingency plans in place to keep power flowing smoothly.

 Consumers who bought portable electric generators out of fear about power
 shortages linked to the millennium bug should consider returning them to the
 stores, he said.

 ``My advice to the American people is, you don't need to buy power generators.
 If you can get a good deal on a return, do it,'' Richardson said.

 He spoke after touring Potomac Electric Power Co.'s (NYSE:POM - news)
 control center in the Washington suburbs where the utility tracks its power and
 distribution to some 700,000 customers.

 The Y2K problem stems from older computer programs that represent the year
 with only the last two digits. Experts have warned that some computers could
 read 2000 as 1900, which could cause system-wide crashes at the new year.

 The U.S. utility industry has said for months it expected only minor problems at
 year-end, but prepared plans to maintain round-the-clock staffing in case of
 emergency brown-out and black-outs.

 Richardson cautioned that while all American utilities are ready for Y2K
 computer problems, there still could be brief outages caused by severe winter
 storms or other non-Y2K accidents or mishaps.

 ``We simply cannot guarantee against any outages,'' Richardson said.

 The administration pronounced all U.S. utilities ready after seven companies
 completed work this week on their contingency plans. Richardson did not identify
 the stragglers.

 ``Just three months ago, over a million people still weren't assured that their
 power companies were prepared for the rollover into the new millennium,''
 Richardson said at a briefing.

 ``But today, with just 16 days until the year 2000, all customers across the
 country will be serviced by Y2K-ready power companies,'' he added.

 On Wednesday, President Clinton said 99.9 percent of the government's
 mission-critical computer systems are ready. All but eight of the 6,175 critical
 systems were prepared.

 James Hoecker, the head of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
 urged consumers to refrain from filling up their gasoline tanks on New Year's
 Eve. That kind of last-minute action could disrupt gasoline supplies, he said.

 Likewise, consumers should not keep extra gasoline or heating oil on hand in
 their basements or garages. ``There is no reason to store or hoard dangerous
 fuels,'' Hoecker said.

 Hoecker, whose agency oversees utilities and pipelines, is part of the White
 House team that has overseen nationwide Y2K preparations.

 Of more concern to administration officials is the potential for disruption in
 international energy supplies.

 Richardson sought to reassure consumers by repeating that Saudi Arabia,
 Mexico, Venezuela and Kuwait have agreed to stand ready to pump extra oil if
 any unexpected international supply problems develop due to computers that
 control pipelines, ship navigation, refineries and other facilities.

 In the worst case, the White House could open the spigot for the U.S. Strategic
 Petroleum Reserve, Richardson said.

 The emergency stockpile contains, created after the Arab oil embargo of the
 1970s, contains about 572 million barrels of oil in underground caverns.